The client was arrested for allegedly assaulting his ex-wife by shoving her several times and pushing her to the ground. The State of Texas had several witnesses and on the surface it seemed like an easy case to prove. My client was charged with a Class A misdemeanor–the highest level of misdemeanor punishable up to 1 year in jail and a $4,000 fine. Moreover, the State of Texas also wanted to enhance the charge with an affirmative finding of family violence (AFV). The AFV acts like a baby felony that cuts your rights in half – when you have an AFV on your record, you cannot adopt a child, act as a managing conservator for your child, possess or transport a firearm or ammunition.

After working on the case to develop leads and evidence that was helpful to our side, we were able to gain leverage in negotiations and prosecutor agreed to reduce the Class A charge to a Class C misdemeanor assault by contact charge. The State also agreed to drop the AFV enhancement allegation–a giant relief. Finally, my client received deferred adjudication on this charge as part of the negotiation. This essentially reduced the offense to the equivalent of a traffic ticket. And following a 6 month non-reporting probation period (basically just keep your nose clean during the probation period), my client will be able to get the charge off his record–just like it never happened.

So what began for my client as a serious case with serious consequences ended up as something he can expunge off his record–as if the arrest never occurred. As you can expect, my client was relieved and very pleased with the result.

Bo Kalabus

Bo began his legal career as a civil litigator and specialized in defending personal injury cases. After several years in civil practice, Bo turned his focus to starting his own law firm and developing a criminal defense practice to complement his experience on the civil docket. On September 4, 2010 the Kalabus Law Firm was proud to announce its affiliation with Rosenthal & Wadas L.L.P.